GPU Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data shows a decisive performance gap between these two GPUs, with the NVIDIA RTX A4000 winning all three shared head-to-head benchmarks by a wide margin. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX A4000 scores 2604 against the RX 570’s 880, a delta of -66.2% from the AMD card’s perspective. This is not a marginal difference; the NVIDIA card delivers roughly three times the raw DX12 performance in this workload.

The compute-oriented results tell a similar story. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A4000 posts 105739 versus the RX 570’s 32084, representing a -69.7% delta. That is the largest relative gap of the three tests. The Vulkan benchmark narrows slightly but remains lopsided: the RTX A4000 scores 127645 against 42752, a -66.5% delta. Across all three tests, the NVIDIA card wins every single one, giving it a 3-0 sweep in the head-to-head comparison.

Looking at the broader average benchmark scores, the picture is more nuanced. The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28766, while the RTX A4000 sits at 26683. This is counterintuitive given the head-to-head results. The explanation lies in the benchmark suites used. The RX 570’s average is buoyed by Geekbench Metal and Vulkan results, 39349 and 42752 respectively, which are not part of the shared head-to-head set. The RTX A4000’s average is dragged down by several low-scoring Passmark tests, including a DirectX 9 score of 240, a DirectX 10 score of 126, and a DirectX 11 score of 158. These legacy API tests heavily penalize the workstation-oriented NVIDIA card, which is optimized for modern workloads rather than older rasterization paths.

The nearest rivals data further contextualizes each card’s standing. The RX 570’s closest competitor by average score is the AMD Radeon RX 6800M at 28874, a -0.4% delta, followed by the Radeon RX 470 at 28996 (-0.8%). The RTX A4000’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary at 26553, a 0.5% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 at 26421 (1%). Both cards sit in similar percentile ranges, the RX 570 at the 74th percentile of all GPUs and the RTX A4000 at the 72nd, indicating that while their average scores differ by only a few percent, their performance profiles diverge sharply depending on the workload.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations and design philosophies. The AMD RX 570 uses the Polaris 20 chip based on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The NVIDIA RTX A4000, by contrast, uses the GA104 chip based on Ampere architecture, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4M per mm², nearly double the AMD card’s density.

The compute resources differ massively. The RX 570 has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX A4000 has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. That is three times the shader count and three times the ROP count. The NVIDIA card also brings dedicated hardware that the AMD card lacks entirely: 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. These enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated features, neither of which the GCN 4.0-based RX 570 can offer.

The memory subsystems are equally divergent. The RX 570 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A4000 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on the same 256-bit bus width but achieves 448.0 GB/s, exactly double the bandwidth. The effective memory clock for the AMD card is 7 Gbps, while the NVIDIA card runs at 14 Gbps. The RX 570’s memory is also four times smaller in capacity, which is a critical limitation for modern workloads that exceed 4 GB.

Clock behavior differs as well. The RX 570 has a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost of 1244 MHz. The RTX A4000 has a much lower base clock of 735 MHz but a significantly higher boost of 1560 MHz. This suggests the NVIDIA card relies on aggressive boost behavior under load, while the AMD card runs closer to its base frequency. The resulting fill rates reflect this: the RX 570 achieves 39.81 GPixel/s and 159.2 GTexel/s, while the RTX A4000 reaches 149.8 GPixel/s and 299.5 GTexel/s.

FP32 and FP16 throughput also favor the NVIDIA card heavily. The RX 570 delivers 5.095 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (at a 1:1 ratio). The RTX A4000 delivers 19.17 TFLOPS in both precisions, roughly 3.76 times the FP32 throughput. The API support also differs: the RX 570 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX A4000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, adding ray tracing and mesh shader support at the API level.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in raw compute performance?

A: The RTX A4000 wins decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 105739 versus the RX 570’s 32084, a -69.7% delta. Its FP32 throughput of 19.17 TFLOPS is nearly four times the RX 570’s 5.095 TFLOPS.

Q: Does the RX 570 have any advantage in the shared benchmarks?

A: No. The RTX A4000 wins all three head-to-head tests: 3DMark Steel Nomad (2604 vs 880), Geekbench OpenCL (105739 vs 32084), and Geekbench Vulkan (127645 vs 42752). The RX 570 has zero wins in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: Why does the RX 570 have a higher average benchmark score than the RTX A4000?

A: The RX 570’s average score of 28766 is boosted by a Geekbench Metal result of 39349, which is not in the RTX A4000’s benchmark set. The RTX A4000’s average of 26683 is pulled down by low Passmark legacy API scores (DirectX 9: 240, DirectX 10: 126, DirectX 11: 158), which are not part of the RX 570’s benchmark suite.

Q: What are the memory capacity and bandwidth differences?

A: The RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A4000 has 16 GB of GDDR6 with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both use a 256-bit bus, but the NVIDIA card has four times the capacity and double the bandwidth.

Q: Does the RTX A4000 support ray tracing?

A: Yes. It has 48 dedicated ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, plus DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) API support. The RX 570 has no ray tracing hardware and only supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: How do the two cards compare in physical size and power?

A: Both are 241 mm (9.5 inches) long. The RX 570 is dual-slot with a 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W PSU. The RTX A4000 is single-slot with a 140 W TDP and requires a 300 W PSU. Both use a single 6-pin power connector.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 570 | NVIDIA RTX A4000 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ampere |

| Process Node | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) | 8 nm (Samsung) |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 17,400 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1168 MHz | 735 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1244 MHz | 1560 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB GDDR5 | 16 GB GDDR6 |

| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 448.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 6144 |

| TMUs | 128 | 192 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| RT Cores | None | 48 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 192 |

| Pixel Rate | 39.81 GPixel/s | 149.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 159.2 GTexel/s | 299.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.095 TFLOPS | 19.17 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 5.095 TFLOPS (1:1) | 19.17 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 140 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2017-04-17 | 2021-04-11 |

| Predecessor | Arctic Islands | Quadro Turing |

| Successor | Vega | Workstation Ada |

| Launch MSRP | 169 USD | Not available |

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture for different use cases. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 is the superior choice for any workload that leverages modern APIs, ray tracing, or large memory footprints. Its 3x advantage in the 3DMark Steel Nomad test (2604 vs 880) and its 69.7% lead in OpenCL compute demonstrate overwhelming superiority in contemporary graphics and compute tasks. The 16 GB GDDR6 frame buffer versus 4 GB GDDR5 means the RTX A4000 can handle datasets and textures that would simply fail on the RX 570 due to memory exhaustion. Its 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration that the RX 570 cannot emulate in software.

The AMD RX 570 retains relevance only in a narrow context. Its average benchmark score of 28766 actually exceeds the RTX A4000’s 26683, driven by strong Geekbench Metal and Vulkan results. However, this is a statistical artifact of different benchmark suites rather than a genuine performance advantage. The RX 570 has no head-to-head wins, and its 5.095 TFLOPS FP32 is less than a third of the RTX A4000’s 19.17 TFLOPS. Its only advantages are physical: a smaller 232 mm² die, a lower 150 W TDP (though the RTX A4000 is actually lower at 140 W), and a 169 USD launch MSRP.

For professional or workstation use, the RTX A4000 is the only rational choice from this comparison. Its 16 GB memory, ray tracing hardware, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth make it suitable for modern content creation, AI inference, and visualization workloads. The RX 570, with its 2017 release date and GCN 4.0 architecture, is end-of-life and lacks the feature set required for current-generation applications. The 74th percentile ranking for the RX 570 versus the 72nd for the RTX A4000 is misleading at the aggregate level; the head-to-head deltas of -66% or worse in every shared test are the definitive metric. For gaming at legacy API levels, the RX 570 might still function, but for any forward-looking workload, the RTX A4000 is the clear winner.